


30 Day BenKaru Challenge -- Day 21, AU Of Your Choice

by tinynerdlet



Series: 30 Day BenKaru Challenge [21]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 1960s, Alternate Universe - Carnival, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 00:39:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7992178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinynerdlet/pseuds/tinynerdlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hikaru Sulu lived a normal life -- as normal as any gay man could in the 1960's, anyway. He taught fencing, adored it even, and sought after the affection of a man he was sure he'd never get. Though he wanted change, the change he got wasn't one he wanted. He was stripped from his home, his life, and nearly sold off to the carnival to be one of their freaks. He was saved by a force of good-hearted souls that wanted to free the world of these forced alterations. Hikaru agreed to work with them if only to keep others from the life he was forced to live.</p>
<p>Two years later, as he sat in a crowd scoping the performers for prisoners, he glimpsed on a face he never thought he'd see again. It was the man that stole his affection so many years ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [See Story On Tumblr](http://spoopynerdlet.tumblr.com/post/149828178403/day-21-of-benkaru-au-of-your-choice)

Hikaru Sulu first heard about the carnival two years ago. The troop made a scheduled stop to the outskirts of Los Angeles. Hikaru went as a bystander then, observing the grounds, the crowds, the shows, without even a second thought. Even the inhuman characters hadn’t piqued his interest. All in all, it was an eventful night, but nothing worth mulling over.

Then Hikaru was taken by someone who altered him, changed him, and nearly sold him off to that very carnival.

He was only a fencing teacher then. It wasn’t the most lucrative career, but he enjoyed it. Each day brought with it familiar faces, hours of training, and moments of connection with his pupils that he wouldn’t have traded for anything. Except, maybe, for love. He wanted to be a husband, a father, but his heart sang to someone that wouldn’t answer the call. Not in that time, anyway. If they lived in another time, another place, Ben Jung might have accepted his heart. But then, Ben was only a pupil. He couldn’t be anything more.

Yet it was Ben he thought of when he’d woken up naked and alone in that laboratory. And it was Ben he thought of during each painful experiment and alteration. He would have given his life, his whole being, to see that man smile at him one last time. But as the experiments ended and he was told of his fate, Hikaru knew he’d never see Ben again. It was a reality he accepted.

Luckily, his fate wasn’t what his torturer claimed it would be. Ben wasn’t in his future, but neither was a life spent in carnival servitude.

Hikaru was still naked when he was shown to the interested buyer. It wasn’t the ringleader from the carnival, but another man, a broader man, one that held the confidence and charm that a show runner should. Hikaru huddled himself in the corner of his cage in the hopes that the man would turn and leave unsatisfied.

“I know he still looks human,” his torturer had said, “But I assure you he has more speed and stamina than any human could.”

“So he could easily escape,” the man replied. His voice, though firm, was calming. It was only then Hikaru bothered to glance up from his knees. The man staring back at him was blond, blue eyed, human. He wore a suit perfectly fitted to him with just an edge of yellow flare along the seams. A showman at his finest.

“Not if restrained properly, but I can provide you with cuffs that’ll hold,” the torturer said.

“That won’t be necessary,” the blond said before he turned, pulled out a concealed weapon, and fired. The torturer fell without a scream.

“Nyota,” the blond said, “The doctor’s down. I’ve got a man trapped in a cage in here. I’ll need Spock to open it and some clothes to cover him. Just bring some of Bones’s. Those’ll fit for sure.”

He knelt down in front of the cage. Hikaru unfolded himself a little, his head lifted up from his legs. The blond smiled and introduced himself at Jim Kirk.

Kirk, as Hikaru had taken to calling him over the years, saved him that day. It wouldn’t be the last time, either. Hikaru agreed to help the Kirk’s team find and stop the the selling of altered humans, which meant that he, along with the six others, were constantly put in dangerous situations. It was the life Hikaru chose. He could have gone back to his old life even with his powers – the option was given by Kirk readily – but Hikaru declined. The agency they worked for, though government funded, desperately needed more people to help their cause. Besides, the only person Hikaru could go back to would never accept his heart.

But two years later, as he sat as a member of the carnival audience wrapped in a disguise so real Hikaru barely recognized himself, he saw his old love staring right at him. No, through him, through everyone, with a glazed expression Hikaru saw only once – in his own reflection the day Jim Kirk first saved his life.


	2. Chapter 2

“How many of these performers were forcefully altered?” Kirk asked after Hikaru had informed him of Ben’s condition. Hikaru had stepped away from the carnival grounds and back to the temporary office the team had rented out. All seven of them – Kirk, Sulu, Spock, Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Nyota Uhura, Pavel Chekov, and Montgomery Scott – were there, each taking a seat at the large table placed in the center of the room.

“We cannot be sure that this man was altered against his will,” Spock said. Hikaru got used to the monotone, factual statements Spock made over the years, but it didn’t change the cold, prickling anger that covered his arms in goosebumps. One glance from Uhura, who sat at Spock’s left, eased him.

“I saw that man just like Sulu did,” said McCoy, who sat on Spock’s right, “I know a tortured soul when I see one. That man didn’t choose what he got.”

“Does it matter?” asked Scott, his Scottish heritage seeping through his words “The man’s hurtin’ now. If he free ‘im, he’s likely ta help us.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Uhura answered.

“She’s right,” Kirk said, “We have to assume that no one there is willing to leave.”

“Then how the hell are we supposed to help them?” McCoy asked.

“Our mission is not to help them,” Spock said, “Our mission is to dismantle the carnival and bring in Mr. Singh.”

“Alright, then where the hell are these altered people supposed to go, Spock?” Leonard said, his voice rising in volume, “You’ve seen what these powers do to people left unchecked. We can’t just-”

“Bones,” Kirk said. His voice was calm. Silence followed it.

“Sir,” Hikaru finally said, looking up at the leader. The blue eyes watched him. “I could go in and try to talk to him.”

“Sulu-” McCoy started but Hikaru kept talking.

“There’s a chance he could recognize me.”

“And Mr. Sulu is more likely to escape ze carnival grounds if he is caught,” Chekov added, his young, chipper voice a blessing in the tense air. Hikaru didn’t look at him, though. His eyes were locked on Kirk, on those blue hues that challenged, considered, and then conceded.

“Do you know what tent he was being held in?” Kirk asked.

“Yes, sir,” Hikaru answered.

“Jim, you can’t be serious,” McCoy said. Hikaru looked over at him. The man was threatening to stand, his steady fingers spread across the table surface, “This could be a damn suicide mission.”

“Or it could give us the answers we need,” Kirk replied, “If Mr. Sulu is willing to take the risks, I’m willing to let him go.”

Hikaru was more than willing.


	3. Chapter 3

The next night, as darkness danced across the carnival grounds and silence seeped along the the dirt paths and back alleys, Hikaru eased into the area. He waited, looked, saw no one, and sprinted to the holding tent. It was all the way across the carnival grounds. It took him two seconds to get there. No one noticed.

Hikaru stilled against the red and white canvas, his black shadow form as blatant against the darkness as the stars in the sky. Still, no one saw. He crawled beneath the draped canvas and edged his way inside.

It was a holding cell. As much as a flimsy tent could be, anyway. Only chains held the being centered in the tent, his hunched back towards Hikaru showing his deep breaths. There was no snoring, no lulling. Just sitting.

Hikaru inched forward, his eyes scanning the tent. No one else was inside. He skirted along the sides of the tent before easing closer. He hunched, knelt, and then inched over. At first, it looked as those Ben was asleep. But at one last move of Hikaru’s, the man’s head snapped up and wide, blank eyes stared at him. Hikaru put his hands up immediately, open.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” Hikaru whispered, “I’m here to talk with you, Ben.”

“Ben,” the man whispered. A moment passed. Then, for a moment, light began to dance in those brown irises. Hands reached for him. Despite the chains, cold fingers brushed against Hikaru’s hands. Ben’s eyes flashed down to them. So did Hikaru’s. He watched Ben trace along the knuckles, the nails.

“You’re real,” Ben whispered. Hikaru glanced up at the man’s face. Light seeped from Ben’s eyes to his face. It leaned closer. “Hikaru, I thought… I thought you were dead.”

“It’s a long story,” Hikaru whispered, “But I have a team. We can help you. We just need to know how many of the performers were changed against their will.”

“Three at most. Me, a woman named Jaylah, and a man, Riley, but,” Ben’s voice cracked, “I’m not sure Riley’s still alive. I haven’t heard anything about him for weeks and these… these things… they don’t hide any information about our health to each other.”

“Why were you taken?” Hikaru asked.

“I was looking for you.”

Thudding started to rise in volume. At first Hikaru thought it was his heart. Then he realized, uncertainly, that it was footsteps. They were headed towards the tent.

“My team and I will come back for you, I promise,” Hikaru whispered, “Don’t give them any reason to think anything has changed.” He clenched his fingers around Ben’s. He wanted to lean in, to hug him, to kiss him even, but he pulled away. Hikaru could tell a protest died on his lips. He wanted to take it with him.

Hikaru ran for the back of the tent, slid under the fabric, and darted back to the edge of the carnival site. He looked back. Under the fold of darkness he wasn’t spotted. But a light came on. The light was on the far end of the carnival grounds.


	4. Chapter 4

The team arrived at the edge of the grounds two hours later. Hikaru hadn’t changed. The others had. Their clothes nearly matched Hikaru’s, save for differences in the shoes and the weapons that were attached to their sides. Others had guns. Hikaru kept his sword.

Hikaru had his orders. With a quiet nod from Kirk, he hung back as Kirk, Spock, and Scott moved onto the grounds. There was a signal he was waiting for. In nearly two minutes, it came. A yell. A loud one. One that would have dared challenge thunder had the gods willed it to come. Hikaru sprinted to the tent again, slid under the fold, and peered around.

Ben wasn’t alone.

A man stood at the opening. His broad frame nearly doubled Hikaru’s and seemed to expand at his arrival. Darkness touched his face, contorted the expression, made it more vile, more devious than it must have been. Hikaru didn’t let it stop him. It took twelve paces to get to him, two arm motions to pull out his sword, and another to stab him through the heart. He died before he hit the ground. The action took less than a second.

Hikaru sheathed his sword again and turned to Ben. He approached, knelt, and checked the chains for a keyhole, damage, imperfections that he could exploit.

“I see you’ve been practicing,” Ben whispered. Hikaru smiled softly over his work.

“I couldn’t give it up,” Hikaru answered.

Ben’s fingers brushed his. Hikaru looked up at his face. He only managed to glance at it for a second before Ben closed in. Lips touched his own. They were cold, just as Ben’s hands were, but lacked no passion, no love. They left slowly but didn’t drift far.

“Like I couldn’t give you up,” Ben whispered. His breath was just as cold as everything else had been. Hikaru took in Ben’s face. Aside from the soft smile that dared dance upon his skin, nothing looked unusual. The cold was part of the alteration then. Normal. He longed to feel it again and nearly leaned it for it. But he was stopped by the thunderous yell. He felt it rattle his heart.

“What is that?” Ben asked. Hikaru focused on the chains again.

“Jim Kirk,” Hikaru said, “His fight with Mr. Singh is over.”


	5. Chapter 5

The carnival was dismantled, much to the dismay of the uninformed. The government agency they worked for praised them for their work. There were others who needed to be saved, though.

Hikaru hadn’t been there for the obligatory “you can return home” talk that Kirk always gave. He was there for the aftermath. Jaylah and Ben both decided to stay on the team. And both showcased their skills in the conference room back in Los Angeles. Hikaru got a taste of Ben’s ice powers on a more personal level later on. And when that night ended and they laid so close that Hikaru knew it wasn’t a dream, he finally asked what had been on his mind.

“When did you know you loved me?”

There was silence. And then, like the wisp of winter wind, Ben answered, “The moment I laid eyes on you.”


End file.
